“It’s already ruined,” Brandy snarled.
“Something must be wrong.” Avoiding the probing stares from the people at the table, I fiddled with my phone. “He doesn’t usually disappear without returning my calls or texts. Excuse me.” I walked away from the table and called Noah in the kitchen; I was met with a call that went straight to voicemail. I informed him the night he came home—after Brandy’s visit—that we were going to have dinner with my friends. While he never outright agreed to coming, he never said no. In fact, he barely said a word to me and went to the bathroom to shower.
I swiveled around to see Brandy, standing in the doorframe with her arms crossed. The discrimination on her face was so stark and readable. I knew everything she was thinking without a word expelling from her mouth. Tonight was Noah’s chance to prove himself and explain the new scars on my back. He’d failed miserably. Brandy no longer had any reason to accept his presence in my life, if she had an iota of positive feelings toward the man at all.
“I’m going to check on him.” I dropped my arm and tightly clutched my phone. “There might be something wrong.”
“Why don’t you take some food with you,” Sonja suggested, appearing beside Brandy.
“I’ll help.” Brandy’s voice overflowed with irritation and fury. She stormed around Sonja’s kitchen and wrestled cabinets open, only to slam them closed when she couldn’t find what she wanted. She sloppily packaged up a dinner for two and threw it into a reusable shopping bag. She yanked my arm, walking me to the door, and preempted any chance of my friends saying goodbye to me.
“I hate him, Keaton,” she barked, her hand tightening on the door handle as she held it open for me. “ I hate him for what he did to you at that fucked up cult.”
“Okay.” It was all I could say. Clarity to find the perfect thing to say to abate her anger eluded me. I didn’t pity anyone who got on Brandy’s bad side. She inherited her mother’s talent at making her enemies feel every inch of her wrath when she was crossed. I witnessed some of Brandy’s tactics in high school; she knew how and where to hit to inflict the most pain. I could only hope she didn’t view my relationship with Noah as a destroy mission.
I glanced at Nathan and Sonja, standing alongside one another. The looks on their faces couldn’t be mistaken. Brandy had told them all about her discovery in the warehouse, and they were on the verge of their own search and destroy mission.
I doubt it mattered if Noah had shown up to the dinner or not. His jury had condemned him long before he had a chance to plead his case.
I WRESTLED WITH THE bagful of containers of food as I pulled down the gate to the freight elevator to transport me to the second floor. Too exhausted to take the stairs, I took the elevator that seemed to jam at least once every week. Exhaling an elongated breath, I leaned up against the wall of the car. The only things that were in my thoughts were to have some semblance of a peaceful dinner with Noah and to turn in early. If work hadn’t succeeded in siphoning most of my energy, being that I was wearing two hats and taking care of my mother’s position while she focused on her campaign, my disastrous dinner with my friends completed the job.
The doors opened to the second level. I lifted the gate and stepped out of the car. I moved inside the area between the living room and kitchen and set the bag containing the takeout containers on the kitchen counter.
There was a low intoning sound. As I walked deeper into the open space, it changed to a guttural and short series of groans. A freestanding wall separated the bed from the rest of the area, but with no doors or walls, it could barely be considered a bedroom.
Three glasses of various shaded drinks in differing capacity levels were set on the dining room table.
The sounds I heard in the bedroom area began to clear. Two men were moaning and grunting. I ambled forward, spying the feet of two men and legs tangled with one another on the bed.
I stepped around the floating wall; the scene in front of me stunned me into silence. Two men—who were unknown to me—were having very rough sex with one another. Noah was seated in the club chair in the corner of the area, watching them with intrigue and an expression that couldn’t quite be labeled as a genial—it was much too sinister.
I immediately turned on my heels and headed for the elevator.
“Hey.” Noah’s heavy steps marched across the stained concrete floor, nearing me at a hurried pace. “Where do you think you’re off to?”
Without providing him with an answer, I continued to make strides to leave.
He grabbed my hips, spun me, and pushed me hard against the gate to the elevator. “You’re not leaving, princess. When they are done, I’m going to fuck you on the bed and our guests are going to watch.”
In awe, and unable to formulate the right words to say, I stared at him for a while. “Who are they?” I asked, my voice broken and dry.
“Who they are really is no concern of yours.” He pulled my hand, tugging me back toward the bedroom.
I snapped back hard, forcing him to lose his grip on my hand. “I’m trying to be patient and understanding over whatever you’re going through. Maybe it’s an adjustment period—I don’t know. I’m always trying to be what you need me to be and be there for you. I only asked you for one thing—to meet my friends and show them how wrong they are about you. You didn’t bother to come because of this?” I pointed to the action still in progress on our bed.
“I never agreed to go.” Reaching forward, he slipped his massive palms on either side of my neck. “Besides, princess, you know me, and you know better than to think I’d sit around and play tea party with your friends. I don’t give a shit what they think about me, and I’ll never act and try to pretend like I actually care. They don’t matter to me, and they don’t matter to you anymore.” He pushed forward, showing me how aroused he was as his hands slipped down my shoulders to my behind. He bunched up the material of my dress, sliding it up to my hips.
“I can’t do this with you right now, Noah.” I shoved my arms down, fighting against his unmatched strength to hold me closer. I gave up the fight, having made no leeway in making him let me go. “If you want to be with me, why can’t we be alone? I only need you and not this. That”—I shoved an arm toward the bedroom area—“isn’t something I enjoy.”
He pressed forward, pinning me against the gates so firmly, the metal bars began to dig into my skin and agitate the sores on my back.
The instant I sucked my teeth in pain, the corner of his mouth turned up in pleasure and showcased one of his dimples in the center of his cheeks.
“I never pegged you as a coward who didn’t like to try new things, princess.” His low and husky voice tickled my lips. “They aren’t going to touch you, you know I would never allow another man to have his eyes linger on you for more than a few seconds. This is what you’re going to do: You’re going to take off your clothes, lay on the bed, spread your legs, and submit to what I’m going to give you.”
Pressing my hands down against his chest, I attempted to push him away again. His chest muscles jumped as he further strengthened his hold on me.
“You don’t need to take on the role of Reven or try to make this corner of the world simulate the world you created with Rebirth. We have each other, isn’t that enough?”
“What have you been taught?” His hazel-blue eyes began to squint. His thick lashes cast an intimidating shadow over his eyes. “It’s about expressing yourself sexually and not letting anyone else define what you should and shouldn’t do.”
“I don’t need to express anything with anyone. I’m happy with us, as we are.” Happy. It was a word that sounded strange coming from my mouth and said with very little conviction. He didn’t seem to notice either way.
“It’s not about what you think you need, princess. It’s about what I know you need.”
“Is sex with me becoming…boring?”
“Honestly?” He only caught a glimpse of the brokenness on my face, and it made him sneer. Swiftly, h
e plucked me up and threw me over his shoulder, carrying me to go into the bedroom. He threw me down beside the two men engaging with each other and spread my legs.
“No.” I swatted at his hands, the harsh slapping increasingly echoing between us. “You promised you wouldn’t ever do this.”
My reminder only angered him. He tangled his hand in the back of my hair and yanked it back. The abrupt shift in angle sent a striking pain down my neck. “Who are you, Keaton?” he barked at me.
I couldn’t answer, and he forced one out of me by yanking my hair back so harshly he pulled a few hairs from my scalp. He continued to pull until I whimpered and my lip quivered, fighting a losing struggle against disclosing my pain to him and feeding his insatiable appetite. “Yours,” I submitted, my voice shaking.
“You made this nonconsensual. I’m not very happy about that. Fix it.” He pushed down on the top of my head, brutally coercing me to stare into his demanding eyes.
I pleaded with him, granting him my reluctant permission with my words distant and quiet.
He wedged a finger between the lace of my panties and my sex. With one strong tug, he shredded the material. It fell away from my sex, leaving me exposed.
He unbuckled and pulled down his pants with a blinding speed. Grasping his erection, he directed it toward my slit and drove inside my sex—not well lubricated enough to prevent me from being in pain from his harsh thrusts. He shoved his full length inside me at once and pushed against the soft cushion, holding it there until my will to cry was broken.
He fucked me with an angry brutality, punishing me with no intention but to make me suffer.
My cries came harder and faster, stealing my breath away. My verbal declaration of the burning sensation stemming from between my thighs sparked a hint of madness in his eyes.
If I didn’t think the trauma could be any worse, I was wrong. My howling cries of torment served as his energy source, encouraging him to give me more than I could handle.
It wouldn’t be the first time he didn’t bring me to an orgasm. But it was made clear in his eyes he didn’t care if I reached one or not; the sex was meant for his pleasure and my absolute destruction.
“I lie to you constantly, Keaton. The sad thing is, I don’t think you’ll ever know what’s true and what’s false about me.”
-THE SECT
I enjoyed when Keaton was miserable. She would remain that way until she realized D.C. was no longer her home. Naked and lying in bed, I was nearly satisfied after fucking her into a pain-induced stupor last night and into the afternoon the next day—with breaks.
She paced around the space, wincing, and obviously feeling every inch of the pain I left her with last night. Her pain and distress were my most fulfilling kinks. I’d never had a hit of a drug that got me as high as it did when I watched her while she was in pain, and at one point, her pleasure. Things had shifted since we returned to her hometown. Her grief superseded what I felt when I got her off. It turned her compliant, and her tears made me come just a little harder.
Dressed in some kind of frilly black dress, she waited for a beat to look at me. Thinking about last night, my cock began to dance, getting hard. The blood I evoked from her pussy was barely dry on the tip of my dick. I was ready to draw more blood and tear her apart until she was immobilized for a week or two.
My cock slightly wilted when I saw a rolling bag not far from where she stood. She stepped in front of it and tried to hide it from me but failed epically.
I rose from the bed, letting the sheet drop to the floor and reveal my body. I stepped toward her, ready to fuck her common sense back into her. “Get back in bed, princess.” I grabbed her waist from behind and leaned forward sinking my teeth into her earlobe. “You were so well behaved last night. I think you deserve to be rewarded for your obedience. I’m going to make your cum flood in my mouth and on my cock. Would you like that, princess?”
She turned in my arms and had an issue with looking directly into my eyes. So submissive…like a good girl should be.
“It’s my mother’s first fundraising event. I told you about it days ago. After you missed my friend’s dinner, I assumed you weren’t going. But after last night? I don’t want you to go. I’m moving back in with my parents.”
My heart began to race. My blood pumped, rapidly thrumming in my ears.
“Noah—”
Firming my hold on her, the pads of my fingers dug into the material of her dress at her back. She yelped for me. Sliding my hand down and up her dress, I fingered the crotch of her panties. With a strong tug, the frail material fell from her body. Her panties slid down her legs, falling to the floor. The soft lips of her pussy throbbed at my fingertips. My rough motions elicited winces and soft cries. I drew up my fingers, sprinkled in bits of her blood. Sliding my fingers inside my mouth, I moaned at the metallic taste coating my tongue. A hand roamed down her body, finding her pussy again and slowly strummed her clit with my thumb. “Are you going to take off that dress, or am I going to have to?”
“I have to go.” Her body quaked against me. “Don’t try to keep me from leaving you, Noah. You can’t.” Her lip quivered as she inclined her head to look at the floor. “I don’t want to be here with you and your new version of Rebirth.”
“How long are you going to keep this up?” I asked, diverting the conversation to put her on the path of least resistance. I would remind her daily of how much she was an outcast in her mother’s world.
There was one place she fit perfectly, and that was with me.
“You can’t stop lying to yourself and believing that you belong here.” I circled my thumb against her clit as it got wet and swelled under the pads of my fingertips. I moved my fingers to hold her clit and make it harden a bit more. Her blinking slowed, her face softened, indicating that the pleasure was overriding her pain. “You’re different.” I moved my fingers faster, making her reach out and brace herself with her hands on my shoulders. “You’re not cut out for them and their false utopia and fucked up views of the world. You belong in my world with me.” I stared at her and moved faster. She closed her eyes. Her straight posture took a dive. With a small, little cry she came for me. I brushed her hair past her shoulder and kissed her ear. “Take off your fucking dress.”
Trailing her eyes up to me, her tears spilled onto her cheeks. She pressed her lips together, her face turning flush. She pushed against my chest and tried to push me away. I held her tighter until she gave up her fight. Releasing her, I reached up her dress and inched one finger inside of her.
She began to sob and shake her head while simultaneously fighting with a moan.
I chuckled at her while I slid my finger in and out of her cunt, dripping with her juices. “When have your tears ever stopped me, princess? I like them.”
“What is wrong with you?” Her voice shook in sync with her thighs as she whispered to me. “What happened to the man you used to be? Why do you keep breaking your promises to me? You said you would never force yourself on me.”
“I can’t force myself on you when your body is branded with my signature, and I know what it really wants. You don’t, and you never did.” Grabbing the crown of her hair, I jerked her head back. My fingers slithered out of her and began to circle her clit again. It began to throb and harden under my fingertips. She tried to stifle a moan but failed. “Sometimes it’s a little trying to be the one who’s always right. For the unnecessary fight, I might make you plead for it.”
She began to fight me—really fight me. As in scratch my neck with her cat like claws and slap any part she could make contact with repeatedly. And then…came the screams. Not the pain-induced ones I preferred, but the lioness roars.
“You are missing the tools to fuck with me, princess,” I warned, her fight making me lose my patience.
She flailed her arms making her weight in my grip unsteady. I could barely hold onto her and remain standing. Grabbing my shoulders, she brought me down with her. She landed hard underneath me on the
floor with a slap, breaking my fall.
I pulled her arms up, pinning them above her head and straddled her body, sitting on her thighs to keep her still. Holding her jaw with my free hand, I threw her head backward, only needing to do it once to turn her complaint. “Are you done with your temper tantrum?”
She blinked up at me, having difficulty focusing. “You said I should never love you because you wouldn’t know how to handle it. I don’t love you, Noah. You don’t have to treat me this way to make me feel something else—to push me away.”
I didn’t want to show her how what she said burned me a little, but it did, and I couldn’t hide it. Why did I care if she loved me or not? I shouldn’t have. I didn’t need her love, her pity, or any of the emotions I categorized as unnecessary vulnerabilities. I only wanted her submission. Then, why the hell did what she said irritate me so much?
I let go of her hands and bounded to my feet. I reached down and took her hand, helping her to stand. There was a sudden need to show up and be there with her for several reasons. There was only one I could admit to: If I didn’t, she would continue to fight me like she had, and all that I had done would be for not. She was becoming a wild stallion, needing to be saddled in a very particular way to force compliance.
Her friends and her family had gotten inside her head and were putting a widening gap between her and me. To erase the space, I had to show up and let her—and them—know that no one could take her from me.
What they didn’t know and would be made aware of tonight, is that I never come into a situation unprepared. I had information on everyone who was of importance to Keaton. If they kept impeding on what I had with her, the information would be used to my advantage.
“Hey,” I said quietly and dropped my head. “At times, I want to possess you so badly. I’ll do anything to make sure you’re mine and that you remember you’re mine. Stay. Be patient. Things will change. I will show you what you want to see if you can tolerate the things you don’t want to see. I need you at my side so I can see my way through everything that I have to do. My mission. My purpose. You are a big part of that purpose, Keaton. You have to stay.”
The Rebirth of Sin (Wicked Trinity Book 2) Page 6
